[MPWG] IUCN & The Future of Sustainability

[Patricia_DeAngelis at fws.gov]

Just came acrossa report called, "IUCN & The Future of Sustainability" 
(January 2006) and thought I'd pass it along. 

The focus here is sustainable development, which might be considered the 
general category under which falls sustainable use and conservation of 
medicinal plants.  I find it especially interesting that many of the 
concepts in this report are quite familiar - these could just as well be 
excerpts from conversations on our listserve and between various other 
MPWG, Plant Conservation Alliance members and cooperators. 

>>"The problem with sustainability and sustainable development is not that 
the aspirational values they represent are wrong, but that they are 
over-worked and tired..However, as an idea sustainability has been, and 
continues to be, powerful.  While the concept is clearly burdened with a 
great deal of excess weight, and many potentially conflicting ideas have 
become attached to it like barnacles on a ship’s hull, it still has 
considerable power. The concept of sustainability is widely recognised and 
discussed."  (p. 10)

>>"Sustainability needs to be made the basis of a new understanding of 
human aspiration and achievement." (p. 12)

>>"The market is central to the way the world works, but sustainability 
needs to be understood as a fundamental cultural idea: we need to plant a 
culture of sustainability. The planetary future depends on what kind of 
culture of consumerism we build. We need to redesign and engineer the 
global economy so that people can get more yet consume less. One aspect of 
this is an economy of services rather than objects, that generates value 
without generating waste or unnecessary physical or energetic throughput." 
 (pp. 13-14)

>>"To have credibility and success, environmentalists need to move beyond 
the comfort zone of their established professional rituals and 
partnerships. The changes...will require numerous alliances with a diverse 
range of actors, big and small, including businesses, governments, 
development and environmental-developmental organisations and other civil 
society organisations such as religious groups." (p. 15)

>>"Businesses are an important part of the solution. A key dimension of an 
approach offering choices must be the effective combination of enterprise, 
market and regulation." (p. 16)

>>"Different strategies will be needed in different contexts: no holistic 
‘one size fits all’ plan will be effective." (p. 16)

>>"The next six decades are crucial. Sixty years is three human 
generations.  Young people can imagine their grandchildren. What world 
will today’s teenagers see their children and grandchildren try to live 
in?"

Patricia S. De Angelis, Ph.D.
Botanist - Division of Scientific Authority
Chair - Plant Conservation Alliance - Medicinal Plant Working Group
US Fish & Wildlife Service
4401 N. Fairfax Dr., Suite 750
Arlington, VA  22203
703-358-1708 x1753
FAX: 703-358-2276
Working for the conservation and sustainable use of our green natural 
resources.
<www.nps.gov/plants/medicinal>



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