2015-06-23 I&S Agenda - Item 5 - Local Disaster Recovery Plan - Attachment 2

                           Noosa Local Disaster Recovery Plan 2015/2016

26.5 Principles of ecologically sustainable development (in recovery)
Ecologically sustainable development (ESD) is ‘development which aims to meet the needs
of today, while conserving our ecosystems for the benefit of future generations’ (Ecologically
Sustainable Development Steering Committee 1992).

Noosa will seek to abide by the objectives and principles of the national strategy for
ecologically sustainable development which includes three core objectives and seven
guiding principles. These are provided below in Table 9

Principles of ecologically sustainable development
The Goal is:
Development that improves the total quality of life, both now and in the future, in a way that
maintains the ecological processes on which life depends.

The Core Objectives are:
    to enhance individual and community well-being and welfare by following a path of
      economic development that safeguards the welfare of future generations
    to provide for equity within and between generations
    to protect biological diversity and maintain essential ecological processes and life-
      support systems.

The Guiding Principles are:
    decision making processes should effectively integrate both long and short-term
      economic, environmental, social and equity considerations
    where there are threats of serious or irreversible environmental damage, lack of full
      scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing measures to
      prevent environmental degradation
    the global dimension of environmental impacts of actions and policies should be
      recognised and considered
    the need to develop a strong, growing and diversified economy which can enhance
      the capacity for environmental protection should be recognised
    the need to maintain and enhance international competitiveness in an
      environmentally sound manner should be recognised
    cost effective and flexible policy instruments should be adopted, such as improved
      valuation, pricing and incentive mechanisms
    decisions and actions should provide for broad community involvement on issues
      which affect them

No objective or principle should predominate over the others. A balanced approach is
required that takes into account all these objectives and principles to pursue the goal of
ecologically sustainable development.
Table 9 –Principles of ecologically sustainable development (in recovery)
(AEMI Community Recovery Handbook 2)

26.6 Using an environmental risk management approach
Given the complexity of the natural environment it is likely that there will be significant
uncertainty in managing environmental recovery. Decisions will often involve lengthy time
spans and assumptions about projected impacts and may involve significant uncertainty.
Using a risk management approach may help determining the environmental risks and how
best to treat them. It provides a structured, systematic approach to decision making. The
Australian / New Zealand standard for Risk Management - AS/NZS ISO 31000:2009 Risk
management— Principles and guidelines is the principal reference for this process. The
general risk management process can be adapted to suit the needs of environment recovery
planning.




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