The Brundtland report and sustainable development in New Zealand

In April 1987, after nearly three years of intensive research, public hearings and debate, the World Commission on Environment and Development issued the report Our Common Future. Commonly referred to as the Brundtland Report (after Chairperson Gro Harlem Brundtland), it focused attention on the need for urgent action to reverse the downward trend of global environmental degradation and increasing poverty. The primary recommendation of the report was for nations to adopt policies of "sustainable development", and to develop a greater sense of multilateralism i.e. strengthen international relationships and develop a 'world view'. Along with all other countries of the world New Zealand was asked to respond to the challenges issued in the Report, and to integrate sustainable development into its national goals. The objective of this publication is to review critically the recommendations of the Brundtland Report, and to examine the issues raised for New Zealand by the recommendations and conclusions of the Report. The main focus is on understanding the implications of "sustainable development" in general terms, rather than considering each aspect of the Report in detail. The structure of this publication is as follows. A brief review of the Brundtland Commission's work and process is outlined in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 provides a critical assessment, drawing together a number of critiques and commentaries, and bringing out the strengths and weaknesses of the Report. In Chapter 3 the response to the Report in a number of countries is outlined and compared with the response in New Zealand. Some of the broad-ranging implications of sustainable development are then discussed in Chapter 4. Finally, in Chapter 5, I have tried to draw together the main features of the sustainable development debate and some specific implications for New Zealand

Ubiquitous Computing and Ambient Intelligence—UCAmI

The Ubiquitous Computing (UC) idea envisioned by Weiser in 1991 [1] has recently evolved to a more general paradigm known as Ambient Intelligence (AmI) that represents a new generation of user-centred computing environments and systems. These solutions aim to find new ways to better integrate information technology into everyday life devices and activities. AmI environments are integrated by several autonomous computational devices of modern life ranging from consumer electronics to mobile phones. Ideally, people in an AmI environment will not notice these devices, but will benefit from the services these solutions provide them. Such devices are aware of the people present in those environments by reacting to their gestures, actions, and context [2]. Recently the interest in AmI environments has grown considerably due to new challenges posed by society’s demand for highly innovative services, such as smart environments, Ambient Assisted Living (AAL), e-Health, Internet of Things, and intelligent systems, among others.The Ubiquitous Computing (UC) idea envisioned by Weiser in 1991 [1] has recently evolved to a more general paradigm known as Ambient Intelligence (AmI) that represents a new generation of user-centred computing environments and systems. These solutions aim to find new ways to better integrate information technology into everyday life devices and activities. AmI environments are integrated by several autonomous computational devices of modern life ranging from consumer electronics to mobile phones. Ideally, people in an AmI environment will not notice these devices, but will benefit from the services these solutions provide them. Such devices are aware of the people present in those environments by reacting to their gestures, actions, and context [2]. Recently the interest in AmI environments has grown considerably due to new challenges posed by society’s demand for highly innovative services, such as smart environments, Ambient Assisted Living (AAL), e-Health, Internet of Things, and intelligent systems, among others

From threat to opportunity : moving to a sustainable energy pathway

Over the next decade New Zealand must make important decisions that will strongly determine its future energy development pathway. Two strategic issues are of vital importance: the need for the energy sector to respond to the Government's policy of reducing CO2 emissions, the need to develop a viable energy strategy to take the country beyond the depletion of the Maui gas field. Recent energy forecasts have detailed a business as usual approach to New Zealands energy future. The business as usual pathway follows the trend of recent years, indicating continued rising energy consumption over the next two decades. The pathway emphasises the need to develop new energy supplies from conventional energy sources: coal, oil, gas and hydro electricity, to meet anticipated demands. However, this pathway seems to exacerbate problems that New Zealand needs to deal with over the coming decades. Instead of reducing CO2 emissions towards the Government's target of a 20% cut in CO2 by 2000, emissions would increase by 40% by 2010. Instead of moderating energy demand in anticipation of the rundown of the Maui gas field, growth in demand would continue, requiring new sources of energy to be discovered and developed. Instead of contributing in a positive way to the needs of a sustainable global energy system a business as usual approach contributes little. It will fail to bring CO2 emissions under control, let alone achieve cuts. It will fail to contribute to the necessary technology transformation required to develop and deploy environmentally benign energy technologies (those that minimise the environmental harms from energy use) to both the developed and developing world. It is the contention of this study that such a pathway is unsustainable