SUC Enables Sustainable Development
china.org.cn by Victoria Cole, July 13, 2015 Adjust font size:
A diverse international community of experts, leaders, students and media personnel joined together July 13, 2015 at Beijing's Environmental Development Centre of Ministry of Environmental Protection to launch SUC's "Guiding Principles for Sustainable Cities and Communities", enabling a new breed of sustainable developement projects.
In November 2014, UNEP and the Jia Cui Environmental Promotive Center (JCEP) signed a cooperative agreement with UNEP establishing the Sustainable Urban Development and Livable Garden Community Programme (SUC), with UNEP merging two side-initiatives, the Sustainable Buildings and Climate Initiative (SBCI) and the Global Initiative for Resource Efficient Cities (GI-REC), under the SUC as well.
Inducted members of the new SUC "Expert Panel" and leaders of UNEP and SUC gather to ceremonially launch the Guidelines. [Yang Xiaoxiao /chinagate.cn]
The SUC made history today in releasing the first set of guidelines focused on implementation and monitoring strategies for realizable sustainable development for developing countries. The preface to the "Draft Framework for SUC Guidelines" states, "Developing Countries… need to also take the train of sustainable development. And for [developed and developing countries], it is now obvious that promoting resources efficiency throughout the value chain and at city level is a big part of the solution; producing and consuming differently and more efficiently."
The launching ceremony was both a celebration of accomplishments and a call for further progress, in accordance with Nie Mei Sheng's statement in her opening address, "We are here to respect each other, learn from each other and lead in our respective industries."
The Guidelines released Monday is the first phase in the SUC's three-phase project and "identifies and describes the key sustainability goals and performance criteria… and delivers Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Sustainable Cities and Sustainable Communities based on a thorough review of Chinese and global best-practice sustainable development."
These KPIs are orchestrated to "make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable" by monitoring urban population and settlement, transportation and accessibility, land use, cultural and natural heritage, risk reduction and management strategies, eco-environment, public space, resource efficiency and city management and policy; while also "mak[ing] livable, healthy, proud and sustainable communities" by monitoring green building, community facilities and service, community landscapes, economic benefits, safety and education.
Subsequent phases of the project include the release of documents detailing the "Management System" and "Technical Guidelines." The SUC Management System will elaborate on five key strategies: understand the development context, goal setting and institutional resourcing, implementation pathway, monitoring pathway, and lessons and knowledge transfer. The SUC Technical Guidelines will give in-depth and knowledgeable descriptions of five objectives: completing a resource and endowment survey, planning and design, building and construction, operation and management and future strategic planning.
Using the SUC's method, three pilot cities and communities within China, to be named in September, will be formally tested.
This event also established the SUC's "Expert Panel" and launched the SUC official website. Speakers for the event included leaders of several organizations and universities, as well as people instrumental in creating the SUC and the Guidelines. Of them, Wei JianGuo beautifully echoed the very existence of the SUC and UNEP when he said, "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."
See more details, please visit the CnDG's special coverage: http://en.chinagate.cn/suc/
