Press Releases 1998

[Index]

HOW SUSTAINABLE IS OUR WAY OF LIFE?

30 January 1998

In Riga (Latvia), there were 109 cars per 1000 inhabitants in 1989; today there are 163. In Cracow (Poland), 53,000 new cars were registered in 1996. Can Riga and Cracow handle the traffic jams created by this recent surge in private car use? What can the local population do to reduce air pollution in the Polish city? Are bicycles a realistic alternative for getting around in Lyons (France)? What can Apeldoorn (Netherlands) teach us about making people's habits more environmentally benign? What happened when Porvoo (Finland) radically raised the prices charged to consumers for water?

These are some of the topics on the agenda of a workshop, sponsored by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE) and the Government of Austria, which will take place in Vienna from 2 to 4 February. For the first time in this region, all the major stakeholders will gather in an attempt to provide consumers with better information and opportunities for making consumption more sustainable. They are hoping to publicize their successful experiments and come up with new ideas. The results of their meeting will be presented to the Ministerial Conference "Environment for Europe" in Aarhus, Denmark, from 23 to 25 June 1998.

Economic growth, demographic changes, higher purchasing power, and increased mobility have led to more consumption. As a result, some symptoms of unsustainable development have appeared, such as an increase in traffic (which is predicted to grow by 30 to 35 per cent per decade in many cities), urban sprawl, suburbanization, and a shortage of land. For instance, a region of intense economic activity now stretches from southern England via the Rhine to the Lombardian region and Milan. It suffers from serious congestion, environmental damage and excessive consumption of land for transport.

Admittedly, comprehensive policies have been designed to limit the strain on the environment from the growing exploitation of natural resources and from discharges of waste and emissions. Also, municipalities have adopted a wide variety of transport policies over the past decade to overcome the congestion and environmental problems related to urban transport.

Nevertheless, what is really necessary is a change in people's attitudes and lifestyles. But this is a gradual process, which can be achieved only through environmental information and education. Information must be readily accessible. Both central and local governments need to be committed to improving the technical quality, consistency, reliability and public accessibility of environmental information. Environmental education will help to sensitize the population, who, as consumers of private and public goods and services, will demand a high level of environmentally friendly alternatives. There are many ways of increasing environmental knowledge, both through schools and training facilities, and through a variety of channels in the community, the workplace and elsewhere. Communities, NGOs and the private sector can play an important role in environmental education. Programmes adapted to local priorities and needs can be established to promote initiatives and community-based efforts to improve the environment.

How to help the consumers?

It is at the local level that instruments to influence personal choice or encourage environmental friendly behaviour should be looked at together with measures to improve the quality of the urban environment and cities' environmental performance. Citizens can help change consumption patterns in many ways, as consumers, workers and voters. During the last two decades environmental attitudes and awareness among consumers have developed, but their new attitudes haven't always led to a change in action. Strategies to bridge this gap between attitudes and action need to be developed. Governments have an important role in creating more sustainable patterns of consumption. They are also consumers and producers, they possess many instruments for change, and can set good frameworks for local action.

"There is an exciting challenge for national and local governments, says Mr. Kaj Bärlund, Director of the UN/ECE Environment and Human Settlements Division, Ato create or continue cooperation and find joint interests and synergies between different sectors, actors, levels and instruments in order to change consumption patterns and above all to give the consumers/citizens alternatives and opportunities for action."

This meeting, the first of its kind, will help to encourage new sustainable consumption patterns. All partners involved are now starting to acknowledge that only broad cooperation, where everybody has a specific role, can produce lasting results.

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