Sustainable Communities

Ecologically Sustainable Development
Sustainability Indicators
Current Projects and Policies

Ecologically Sustainable Development

Sustainability is often used as a substitute for the term Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD), which involves the effective integration of economic, social and environmental considerations in decision-making processes. The principles of ESD include:

the precautionary principle, namely that if there are threats of serious or irreversible environmental damage, lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent environmental degradation
intergenerational equity, namely that the present generation should ensure that the health, diversity and productivity of the environment is maintained or enhanced for the benefit of future generations
conservation of biological diversity and ecological integrity should be a fundamental consideration
improved valuation, pricing and incentive mechanisms, namely that environmental factors should be included in the valuation of assets and services.

Council has developed its sustainability theme called "Kiamasphere", which aims to bring together all of its projects across the Council that relate to environmental management and sustainability. The Kiamasphere logo that incorporates Council's corporate colours was developed and its design represents the holistic approach required to achieve sustainable living in the Kiama Municipality.

Sustainability Indicators

All of the pressures on the environment have an impact on the overall sustainability of the Kiama Municipality. For sustainability to be achieved, these pressures must be counter-balanced by actions and technologies implemented throughout the community.

Council has developed three Headline Sustainability Indicators, with the objective to chart the overall progress of Council and to measure the effectiveness of actions and technologies at achieving a more sustainable Municipality. These Indicators are included in the annual State of the Environment Report. Each indicator graph includes a "sustainable zone", based on the data in the baseline year of 1999-2000 (which is when the previous comprehensive SoE report was prepared). The sustainable zone includes any result that indicates a similar or improved environment compared to 1999-2000. The graphs therefore indicate the move towards or away from the sustainable zone.

air quality (pdf 46Kb)
waste (pdf 23Kb)
beach (pdf 21Kb)
river and estuary (34Kb)

Current Projects and Policies

Many of the projects and policies outlined on the Environment section of Council's website aim to work towards a more sustainable local environment with more efficient use of natural resources, including the Water Sensitive Urban Design Policy (pdf 1.16Mb) and the implementation of the Building Sustainability Index for new developments.

Business Treading Lightly - supporting business to become more sustainable

Business Treading Lightly (BTL) is a partnership between the Southern Councils Group, of which Kiama Municipal Council is a member, and the Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC). The program seeks to assist businesses to reduce their ecological footprint by operating in a more sustainable way. This $2 million government funded program works with local business to introduce environmentally innovative practices and help them make savings in water, waste and energy costs.

The main target business sectors are aged care facilities, hospitality and industrial estates.

The advantages of partnering with Business Treading Lightly are:

cost savings in water, waste and energy efficiencies
access to free staff training
expert advice on all areas of sustainable business practice
a “green” market advantage
keeping pace with large corporations who are resourced to position themselves for the risks and opportunities that climate change presents
assistance with strategic planning and setting of environmental targets
ensuring that the complex and costly task of complying with emerging environmental legislation and regulation is met.

What is a sustainable business?

Business is generally most concerned about financial sustainability. However, it is becoming more apparent that in order to be financially sustainable a good business must also consider its environmental impact.

There are increasing public expectations for businesses to be more sustainable and to be held accountable for their environmental impacts. Businesses are also required to comply with increasing legislative and regulatory requirements.

In order for businesses to be financially sustainable they will need to keep pace with their environmental obligations and the risks and opportunities that climate change presents. Implementing sustainable practices like cleaner production and making more efficient use of resources makes good business sense. It improves not just the environmental performance of the business, but the financial bottom line as well.

For more information about how Business Treading Lightly can help you and your business please contact your BTL Sustainability Officer Levi Gibson on 4232 4702 or lgibson@btl.net.au or visit www.btl.net.au.

Kiama Public Health Plan - Healthy Communities, Town, Country and Coast - Creating Environments for Health 2005-2008

The Kiama Municipal Health Plan 2001-2004 was reviewed during 2003-2004, resulting in the Kiama Public Health Plan (pdf 1169Kb) - Healthy Communities, Town, Country and Coast - Creating Environments for Health 2005-2008. The review process involved extensive community participation and research into current health and environmental issues and best practice strategies. A supplementary Public Health Plan (pdf 2552Kb) has also been made available.

The Plan includes a section addressing the Health of the Environment, including the following priorities:

Regulatory and Statutory
Clean Water
Energy Efficiency
Sustainable Living
Biodiversity
Built Environment
Transport
Waste Management.

The Illawarra Sustainability Roadmap Project

The Illawarra Sustainability Roadmap Project is about assisting Kiama, Shellharbour and Wollongong Councils to integrate the consideration of sustainability into all decisions that we make as a local Council. This Project has been assisted by the New South Wales Government through its Environmental Trust.

Several activities are being undertaken with staff from all sections of each Council, to result in two guiding documents:

the Illawarra Sustainability Roadmap (pdf 308Kb) including a comprehensive review of each Council's current approach to organisational sustainability and a set of sustainability indicators to measure sustainability over time. The Roadmap was adopted by Shellharbour Council for implementation on 20th May 2008.
the Illawarra Sustainability Action Plan, including specific strategies for each Council to embed the consideration of sustainability into all Council decisions, processes, planning, reporting and operations. The Action Plan is in preparation.

Sustainable Illawarra Project

The three Illawarra Councils, (Wollongong, Shellharbour and Kiama) have been investigating opportunities to establish a more strategic approach to sustainability programs and initiatives delivered to our community. The Councils believe that combining their resources and knowledge on sustainability projects will ensure a more consistent message is being delivered to the region’s communities.

As a result, all three Councils put their heads together to apply for a regional grant funded by the NSW State Government’s Environmental Trust. The funding is part of the Department of Environment and Climate Change’s Urban Sustainability Program initiative.

In August 2007 the Environmental Trust approved the Illawarra regions submission with funding of $2.2 million dollars to be rolled out over a three year period.
The project’s vision and purpose is described below.
The vision for this project is for the Illawarra Councils (Wollongong, Shellharbour and Kiama) to balance their social, environmental and economic goals to ensure a sustainable and adaptable future. This will be achieved by:

piloting a stormwater harvesting, reuse and irrigation project at one sporting complex within each Council, with the view to applying the same systems in all Council sporting fields
preparing a roadmap to facilitate integrated sustainability planning and reporting, and directions for more sustainable practices within the Council’s themselves
building capacity and resilience into the community through sustainable education programs that will provide the community with skills that will give them an opportunity to lead a practical, sustainable lifestyle. For more information on the Sustainable Illawarra project visit: www.sustainableillawarra.com.au.

Sustainable Kiama Communities Project

The Sustainable Kiama Communities project is a 3 year project which has been funded by the NSW Government through the NSW Environmental Trust Urban Sustainability Program.
The vision of this project is to create a sustainable, cleaner, greener Kiama Municipality. To achieve this, the project has established the following objectives:

educate and empower all sectors of the community to adopt sustainability practices through better management of energy, water and waste resources to reduce their ecological footprint
develop, implement and evaluate effective partnerships with the community, Council and other government and non-government organizations
develop strong community networks (building community capacity and social capital) to take ownership and management of local environmental issues
reduce urban run-off (stormwater harvesting), stormwater pollution, electricity consumption (greenhouse gas production), water consumption and waste to landfill.

The project will focus on the key areas of energy, water, waste and biodiversity, with a number of initiatives, events and programs including:

workshops covering sustainability issues in the key areas of energy, water, waste and biodiversity
development of Sustainable Park demonstration sites
information nights covering sustainability topics / technology demonstrations
awareness campaigns on specific issues relating to the key areas of waste, water, energy and biodiversity
piloting programs in the key areas to provide the necessary justification to upscale specific initiatives
piloting a reporting system which will allow Council and Municipality scale ecological foot-printing, or measurement of progress towards key environmental performance indicators.

To find out about upcoming sustainability events, programs and workshops, visit the Sustainable Illawarra website www.sustainableillawarra.com.au/Whats-On or call Council’s environment and health team.

External Links

Last updated: Wednesday 11 November, 2009