About Monkey Baa

Councils’ Commitment

Roadmap
Action Plan
ICLEI Program
Links

The challenge of how to pro-actively manage the competing pressures on our society, environment and economy has been recognised by the Councils of the Illawarra. By acknowledging that ‘sustainability’ is about working to balance these sectors for current and future generations, the challenge is now about translating this theory into practice.

Image: Illawarra Councils are committed to working towards sustainability

The Organisational component of the Sustainable Illawarra 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 component of the project was supplemented by an additional New South Wales Environmental Trust Urban Sustainability Program Grant of $50,000 during 2006-2007.

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

the Illawarra Sustainability Roadmap – including a comprehensive review of each Councils’ is current approach to organisational sustainability and a set of sustainability indicators to measure sustainability over time; and

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.

What does Sustainability mean for the Illawarra Councils?

There are many recognised definitions of sustainability, sustainable development and ecologically sustainable development, developed by international organisations and the Australian and New South Wales Governments (see below for relevant links).

The Illawarra Sustainability Roadmap project involved the development of a shared understanding of what sustainability actually means to the Councils of the Illawarra:

“Sustainability involves maintaining and enhancing our quality of life, for both current and future generations, through a balance of economic viability, environmental conservation and restoration, and community well being. For Council, this is working collaboratively and creatively to better integrate short and long-term economic, social and environmental considerations into all decision-making within Council operations and services. It involves demonstrating leadership and accountability to our diverse community.”

The Illawarra Sustainability Roadmap

The Illawarra Sustainability Roadmap is the start of the journey for the Councils to work together to embed the consideration of sustainability into all areas of Council, including decision-making, processes, planning, reporting and operations.

The Illawarra Sustainability Roadmap documents the process that has been undertaken during 2007 to begin to address organisational sustainability on a regional basis. It documents the agreed shared understanding of what sustainability means to the Illawarra Councils and includes a summary of the initiatives that each Council has already undertaken to address sustainability issues. The Illawarra Sustainability Roadmap also includes a set of strategic sustainability indicators and frameworks for their application at each Council. The indicators and framework has been designed to assist Councils to monitor sustainability over time through their existing corporate planning and reporting processes of annual Management Plans and Annual Reports. Links to each Councils’ Management Plan are provided below (see below for relevant links).

The Illawarra Sustainability Roadmap was adopted by each Council in May 2008.

Download the entire Roadmap document here [PDF, 306 kB]

The Illawarra Sustainability Action Plan

The Illawarra Sustainability Action Plan will be developed during 2008-2009.

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The ICLEI Sustainability Services Triple Bottom Line Program

The organisational component of the project is being assisted by ICLEI Sustainability Services through their Triple Bottom Line Capacity Building Program, to which the Councils have subscribed as a region. The Program provides a whole of organisation approach for the councils to incorporate triple bottom line and sustainability principles into Council processes and operations.