Local Diary XXI
Covelo's Council implemented a survey in order to get the feedback from its citizens and to know their expectations for the future.
Survey "The Covelo you want"
In recent days it is easy to see the increasing social awareness towards the environment. In this sense representatives of every country meet in different international congresses with the aim of thinking and making decisions on a global level, there is a definite before and after in the stress now placed on the management of the environment.
The term “sustainable development” was first used in 1987 and covers a multitude of slightly different definitions, all of them based on the same concept: “the search for a social, economic and environmental balance” “progress respecting the environment”, “balanced growth without endangering future generations” * and also “progress and improve in living standards without harming the environment.
Given that the environment is a “passive” factor in that it receives the effects of the social and economic “active” factors, Sustainable development tries to incorporate the environmental variable into human activities.
Subsequently, at the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio in 1992, they moved on from talking in economic terms (GDP) to talking in terms of Sustainable Development; and a plan of action was drawn up and signed that set down the specific actions that needed to be taken to achieve the said Sustainable Development: the document is known as “Agenda 21”.
From the very beginning there was the full, clear conviction that local authorities (town, city and regional councils) play an undisputed vital role in the move towards sustainability due to their proximity to the citizens and knowledge of the terrain, thus fulfilling the premise of “deciding at a global level and acting on a local level”.
In this sense we could define a “Sustainable Industrial Estate as that designed according to guidelines aimed at minimising possible environmental impact, that has inbuilt joint waste management systems and that promotes the use of clean technology and identifies synergies amongst the businesses, which receive continuous environmental training and assessment”.
Following on from this definition we can say that the development of a sustainable industrial estate by a local entity is an initiative towards finding a social, economic and environmental balance.
