Sustainable Development, Global Change & Ecosystems Cross-cutting issues

1. Sustainable Development,Global Change & Ecosystems Cross-cutting issues Sustainable Development conceptsand tools P. Valette E.C., DG Research, Head of Unit Warsaw, 24 January 2003

2. EU Research and SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT The Political Driving Forces  The Lisbon process on competitive knowledge-based economy  The Göteborg strategy on EU Sustainable Development  The Johannesburg World Summit on the global Sustainable Development  The European Research Policy and the 6th Framework Programme

3. The Lisbon strategy and the European research policy: new pillars COMPETITIVE KNOWLEDGE BASED ECONOMY INVESTMENT 3% TARGET FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME LISBON STRATEGY RESEARCH POLICY SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH EMPLOYMENT SOCIAL COHESION EUROPEAN RESEARCH AREA J.F. Marchipont

4. The Göteborg strategy needs : “a new approach to policy making”- “Economic, social andenvironmental effect of all policies should be examined in coordinated way and taken into account …”- “… getting prices right to reflect the true cost to society”- “… ensure that all major policy proposals include a Sustainability Impact Assessment”- “... to take due account of energy, transport and environment in the 6th FP of R&D”

5. The Göteborg strategy specificities “Targeting environmental priorities”* Climate Change : “emission of GHG from human activity are contributing to global warming”* Sustainable transport : “costs to society” (health & env.)* Threats to public health : “chemicals only produced in ways without significant impact on health and env.”* Managing natural resources : Future development of Common Agricultural Policy should contribute to achieving S.D. by increasing its emphasis on new environmentally sustainable production methodsS.D. strategy is focused; scientific, socio-economic and technological aspects are concrete

6. The Johannesburg Summit achievements An action-oriented outcome with measurable objectives achieved in a number of areas: - New targets with regard of access to basic sanitation; halt loss of biodiversity and halt fish stocks; willingness to fix targets and timeframes for renewable by a group of countries. - Development of a 10-year framework for progress on sustainable consumption and production; partnerships covering themes like water, energy, health, agriculture and biodiversity. - Strong encouragement for the Climate Change Protocol ratification and production and entry into force. Science implicitly present but not visible enough: A STRONG MOTIVATION TO DO BETTER IN THE FUTUR !

7. “Sustainability Impact Assessment” * A major “grip” for the EU Sustainable Development Strategy. * Applied at the beginning of the policy definition, specially to all major policies. More than 30 policies will be subject of SIA in 2003 ! * “Member States should carry out impact assessments where they use the right of initiative for new legislation. They should also be encouraged to define standards for consultation and impact assessment”. * A driving force for the Sustainability research.

8. SIA: Methodology (1) “Sustainability criteria” protection and renewal of stocks of resources efficiency with which resources are used equity between generations “Measuring impacts” quantitative, qualitative and in money terms when reliable estimates are possible costs and benefits expressed in real terms taking into account “discounting”

9. SIA: Methodology (2)Economic impacts : macro- and micro-economic impacts, notably in terms of economic growth and competitiveness, innovation and technological development, investment, market shares and trade patterns, increases or decreases in consumer prices.Social impacts : human capital, employment levels, gender equality, social exclusion and poverty, health, safety, consumer rights, social capital, security.Environmental impacts : changing status of climate change, air, water, soil pollution, land-use, bio-diversity, changes in public health.

10. SIA: Methodology (3) Tools for cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness, multicriteria analysis, scenario building, indicators building. Treatment of risk and uncertainty in order to apply “precautionary principle”  macro-econometric and general equilibrium models sectoral models : energy, transport, agriculture and forests “Impact Pathway” analysis for damage valuation participatory approaches, learning methods

11. The 6th Framework Programme  The 6th FP addresses the challenges of research on Sustainability. It should ensure a well balanced activity between natural science, economic, social and technological knowledge, the aim of which being to provide concrete and operational outcome for the EU strategy on S.D. and the Lisbon process.

12. Specific contribution to the Sustainability research  “Sustainable Development, Global Change and Ecosystems”, Priority 6 of the new FP, will address Sustainable Development concept, natural science aspects of S.D., technologies for energy and transport, methodologies and tools, sustainable management of natural resources. Observation systems (GMES) should help to collect data for S.D. strategy.  The Priority 7 on “Citizens and governance in a knowledge society” will address the Sustainable Development “pathway” and Governance.

13.  “Nanotechnologies and nanosciences, knowledge- based multifunctional materials, new production processes and devices”, Priority 3, will address new production and consumption systems which respect the 3 dimensions of S.D. together.  “Information Society Technologies”, Priority 2, will address the development of Information Technologies which should help the Sustainable Development implementation and monitoring at the World level.  “Support to EU Policies”, so-called “Priority 8” will address Sustainable management of Europe’s natural resources (agriculture, forests, fisheries), health issues, innovative policies for sustainable development, competitiveness and trade policies; the outcome of this research should be rapidly useful for policy making.

14. “SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, GLOBAL CHANGE and ECOSYSTEMS” • Priority 6 isa model of integration of sustainability researchin the research strategies for global change and ecosystems. • A cross-cutting activity on S.D. concepts and tools - thresholds of sustainability and externalities - tools for Integrated Sustainability Assessment and for incorporation of sustainability in decision making processes. • A new area on “strategies for sustainable land management” - Sustainable use of land: land-use and landscapes in sensitive regions, integrated coastal zone management - Qualitative and quantitative aspects of multifunctionality of agriculture and forestry/wood chain

15. • Integration of the sustainability dimension in the global change, water cycle, biodiversity and ecosystems areas. Examples: - Climate change strategies for prevention, mitigation, adaptation. - Integrated approaches and tools for the management of water-soil resources and mitigation technologies. - Integrated assessment of drivers affecting ecosystems functioning and biodiversity, and mitigation options. • Observation systems in the framework of GMES about collection and treatment of data for the S.D. strategy implementation.

16. Main methodological orientations • Integration of disciplines and sectors at different scales - example of “forestry/wood chain” taking into account forests resources and societal demand. • The Climate Change Strategy methodology could be applied with success to sustainability issues (when relevant) - ex.: water pollution, pesticidesThresholds  targets  mitigation strategies  implementation. • Thresholds of sustainability: critical environmental load combined with economic and social aspects have to be identified for the sustainability issues; definition of targets would follow.

17. • The economic assessment should be strengthened in order to provide solutions to the EU policies and S.D. strategy. Tools (in particular modelling, data bases, accounting frameworks) have to be systematically developed for: - costs to Society (externalities and monetary valuation when feasible) - sustainable impact assessment (scenarios, cost- effectiveness, cost-benefit and multicriteria analysis (e.g. legal aspects) • Social assessment, including the legal and institutional domains, and participative approaches have to be improved for a better governance; links with environment and economic assessments have to be consolidated.

18. ACTORS: INDUSTRIES, PUBLIC AUTHORITIES, CIVIL SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL: TRADE, CONVENTIONS, PARTNERSHIPREGULATION: LOCAL, REGIONAL, EU, WORLD FORESTS,FORESTRY SOCIETY, MARKETS SOLID WOOD CHAIN FIBER CHAIN BIO ENERGY CHAIN BIO COMPOSITES CHAIN MULTIFUNCTIONALITIES: RURAL DEVELOPMENT, ENVIRONMENT, SINKS, LANDSCAPE & BIODIVERSITY FORESTRYWOOD CHAIN “One project”

19. S.D. strategy Ecosystem functioning, Health, Global Change Human activity Prevention, Adaptation: Policies & measures: economic instruments, technologies: *Scenarios *Cost-effectiveness analysis *Cost-benefit analysis Damages Thresholds (physical & monetary valuation) Innovation & implementation Targets (e.g. % of reduction Monitoring (incl. Testing & Measuring)

20. “We don’t start from scratch”- Three categories of methods (in line with existing and needed projects) : > foresight and assessment tools: • macro-economic or sectorial models like the general equilibrium model GEM-E3 or simulation econometric model NEMESIS for EU and World Economy-Environment analysis; • POLES and PRIMES for energy-Climate Change; • accounting frameworks of external costs like EXTERNE for energy and transport technologies or GREENSENSE for other issues; • aggregated indicators like PASTILLE for urban areas activities.

21. > tools for analysing procedures and mechanisms : cooperative participation approaches like REGIONET for regional S.D. or GOUVERNE for Integrated Water Management (participation of all key actors); social learning techniques like SLIM for Use of Water at Catchment scale. > tools and frameworks for planning andmanagement, which combine quantitative tools and process (INSURED for regions or INNESTO for Sustainability Quality Management)… a more integrated framework of tools and assessments has nevertheless to be built for Sustainability

22. “ A new generation of assessments” * A structured “Integrated Sustainability Assessment” activity has to be built, addressing together in a consistent way the economic, ecological, social and institutional dimensions of Sustainability. * A “quite strong” knowledge exist about natural environment assessment, economic and technologic assessments; it is weaker for the social domain and human behaviour; newdevelopments about conceptual frameworks on the role of institutions and legislation have to be taken into account. * Domains of the Socio-Economy are becoming crucial: externalities, multifunctionality of systems (land-use, agriculture and forests, …) social welfare have to be integrated in the traditional socio-economic analysis.

23. * Levels of aggregation in time and geographical scale, spatial representation, uncertainty, representation of faster processes (natural risks, violent conflicts) have to be revisited in the context of S.D. and Global Change. * “Optimality” approach in the context of regional equity, multiobjectives of society, allocation and efficient use of resources, technology transfer will have to be widely used; the dynamics from the short to the long and very long term will have to be considered, including the notion of “overall threshold of sustainability” which defines the clear limits not to be exceeded. * The Priority 6 will address this “Integrated Sustainability Assessment” activity. The Priority 7 will address “knowledge-based society and social cohesion” and “Citizenship, Democracy, new forms ofGovernance”; the outcome of this research will have to be considered in the ISA activity.

24. FINAL MESSAGE • Climate change issue has been subject of a huge progress for the Environment-Economy-Society modelling; Sustainable Development will also surely be a motivation to create a more comprehensive and operational generation of conceptual frameworks and models. • One new instrument (network of excellence or integrated project) in the second call of FP6 for the priority 6.3 “Global Change and Ecosystems” will offer possibilities to launch an activity relative to this new generation of conceptual frameworks and models called “Integrated Sustainability Assessment”. Specific Targeted Projects and Co-ordination Activities will also cover development and application of tools for sustainability assessment.

25. • Priority 7 will also open in December 2002 a call for proposals on “knowledge-based society” and “governance” which could complement the Sustainability research of Priority 6. • Priority 8 will give possibilities in December to present targeted projects on specific policy issues of the EU Sustainable Development strategy. “The 6th Framework Programme is your Programme”