Vision for North Tipperary
- Vision Statement
- Achieving the Vision
- Why Do We Need Sustainable Development?
- Changing Our Perspective
- Sustainability at a Local Level
- Achieving Sustainability
- Guiding Decision-Making
2.3 Why do we need sustainable development?
Sustainable development is necessary because the need for development is as great as ever, but the model of the past cannot be used as a pattern for the future. Millions of people worldwide live below the poverty line, have no access to health care, and have inadequate shelter. With the rapid increase of the global population, the disparity between rich and poor is becoming greater.
Ireland and North Tipperary do not have problems on such a scale, but we cannot afford to stand aside from these issues. Global prosperity must increase and must be more widely shared. Living standards must be improved. Historically, economic activity tended to mean pollution and wasting of resources. Such activity is clearly unsustainable.
We have to find a new way forward: this is the challenge of sustainable development. For the future, we need to simultaneously achieve economic, social and environmental objectives, and consider the longer-term implications of decisions. The choices made will either promote more sustainable practices or lead us further from that outcome.
At a local level, our County needs thriving villages and towns based on strong economies, good access to services, and attractive and safe surroundings. Our countryside needs to be valued as a natural asset and not treated simply as development land, which can be developed at the impulse of its current owner.
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