Climate change and sustainable development: realizing the opportunity.
Manifold linkages exist between climate change and sustainable development. Although these are starting to receive attention in the climate exchange literature, the focus has typically been on examining sustainable development through a climate change lens, rather than vice versa. And there has been little systematic examination of how these linkages may be fostered in practice. This paper examines climate change through a sustainable development lens. To illustrate how this might change the approach to climate change issues, it reports on the findings of a panel of business, local government, and academic representatives in British Columbia, Canada, who were appointed to advise the provincial government on climate change policy. The panel found that sustainable development may offer a significantly more fruitful way to pursue climate policy goals than climate policy itself. The paper discusses subsequent climate change developments in the province and makes suggestions as how best to pursue such a sustainability approach in British Columbia and other jurisdictions.
Robinson
John
J
Institute of Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Bradley
Mike
M
Busby
Peter
P
Connor
Denis
D
Murray
Anne
A
Sampson
Bruce
B
Soper
Wayne
W
D001955:British Columbia; D002980:Climate; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D017753:Ecosystem; D006295:Health Resources; D011050:Policy Making; D011640:Public Policy