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Sustainable Communities

Ecologically Sustainable Development

Sustainability is often used as a substitute for the term Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD), which involves the effective integration of economic, social and environmental considerations in decision-making processes. The principles of ESD include:

  • the precautionary principle, namely that if 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
  • intergenerational equity, namely that the present generation should ensure that the health, diversity and productivity of the environment is maintained or enhanced for the benefit of future generations
  • conservation of biological diversity and ecological integrity should be a fundamental consideration
  • improved valuation, pricing and incentive mechanisms, namely that environmental factors should be included in the valuation of assets and services.
Thumbnail picture of Kiamasphere logo

Council has developed its sustainability theme called "Kiamasphere", which aims to bring together all of its projects across the Council that relate to environmental management and sustainability. The Kiamasphere logo that incorporates Council's corporate colours was developed and its design represents the holistic approach required to achieve sustainable living in the Kiama Municipality.

Sustainability Indicators

All of the pressures on the environment have an impact on the overall sustainability of the Kiama Municipality. For sustainability to be achieved, these pressures must be counter-balanced by actions and technologies implemented throughout the community.

Council has developed three Headline Sustainability Indicators, with the objective to chart the overall progress of Council and to measure the effectiveness of actions and technologies at achieving a more sustainable Municipality. These Indicators are included in the annual State of the Environment Report. Each indicator graph includes a "sustainable zone", based on the data in the baseline year of 1999-2000 (which is when the previous comprehensive SoE report was prepared). The sustainable zone includes any result that indicates a similar or improved environment compared to 1999-2000. The graphs therefore indicate the move towards or away from the sustainable zone.

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Current Projects and Policies

Many of the projects and policies outlined on the Environment section of Council's website aim to work towards a more sustainable local environment with more efficient use of natural resources, including the Water Sensitive Urban Design Policy (pdf 1.16Mb) and the implementation of the Building Sustainability Index for new developments.

Kiama Public Health Plan - Healthy Communities, Town, Country and Coast - Creating Environments for Health 2005-2008

The Kiama Municipal Health Plan 2001-2004 was reviewed during 2003-2004, resulting in the Kiama Public Health Plan (pdf 1169Kb) - Healthy Communities, Town, Country and Coast - Creating Environments for Health 2005-2008. The review process involved extensive community participation and research into current health and environmental issues and best practice strategies. A supplementary Public Health Plan (pdf 2552Kb) has also been made available.

The Plan includes a section addressing the Health of the Environment, including the following priorities:

  • Regulatory and Statutory
  • Clean Water
  • Energy Efficiency
  • Sustainable Living
  • Biodiversity
  • Built Environment
  • Transport
  • Waste Management.

The Illawarra Sustainability Roadmap Project

The Illawarra Sustainability Roadmap Project is about assisting Kiama, Shellharbour and Wollongong Councils to integrate the consideration of sustainability into all decisions that we make as a local Council. This Project has been assisted by the New South Wales Government through its Environmental Trust.

Several activities are being undertaken with staff from all sections of each Council, to result in two guiding documents:

  • the Illawarra Sustainability Roadmap (pdf 308Kb) including a comprehensive review of each Council's current approach to organisational sustainability and a set of sustainability indicators to measure sustainability over time. The Roadmap was adopted by Shellharbour Council for implementation on 20th May 2008.
  • the Illawarra Sustainability Action Plan, including specific strategies for each Council to embed the consideration of sustainability into all Council decisions, processes, planning, reporting and operations. The Action Plan is in preparation.

External Links

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Last updated: Wednesday March 28, 2007


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