Debate on "Sustainable Development Goals" at TEPAV Tenth Regional Development and Governance Symposium held
ANKARA- The Tenth TEPAV Regional Development and Governance Symposium was held on February 19th in Ankara. This year’s symposium theme was "Decision Making within the Triangle of Society, Economy and Environment".
In his inaugural speech, TEPAV Director Dr. Güven Sak mentioned the importance of 2015-2030 sustainable development goals, noting that the goals "build a common ground for development between developing and developed countries." He stressed that the 10th Regional Development Symposium themed Sustainable Development offered a basis for debate on this concept in Turkey.
Whose priorities come first?
TEPAV Project Manager Selçuk Sertesen noted in his speech titled "Discussion Framework for Decision Making within the Triangle of Society, Economy and Environment" that there have been efforts since 1972 to build a global platform for sustainable development; pointing out that sustainability aims for comprehensive development taking into account economic, environmental and social perspectives. Sertesen said that the debates on the concept of sustainable development still fail to provide a clear answer to the question as to whose priorities come first, i.e. whether the rights of future generations or the rights of local people have higher priority. He further pointed out that many actors both at local and national levels contribute to the materialization of sustainable development, and that the solution for effective and permanent results rests with good governance.
Injustices have affect amidst stakeholders and generations alike...
Prof. Dr. Fikret Adaman of Istanbul Bosphorus University delivered a presentation scrutinizing the issue of the environment and Turkey's agenda within the framework of mainstream economics. Referring to four main reasons behind the requirement to define the environment as public property, Adaman stressed "Externality", "Lack of Awareness", "Low Value" (lack of importance attributed to the environment) and "Public Propety Quality" (we pollute the environment together, we should suffer possible consequences together) concepts. Adaman argued that these four underlying factors are the main reasons to cause environmental problems and escalate social injustices; adding that the consequences of such injustices will be burdening the next generations. Adaman stressed the place and necessity of strong analytical tools and an comprehensive governance model in the mainstream economy in order to ensure sustainable development. He noted finally that a reductionist approach to environmental issues is bound to cause problems, adding that analytical tools along with a stronger, more participatory governance mechanism will reinforce the notion of sustainable development.
Real estate markets alter the outlook and ecological structure of cities
Prof. Dr. Ayda Eraydın of METU pointed out that the competition-driven economic system, working through the real estate market mechanism, completely alters the outlook, ecological structure and the capacity of cities,I rendering them more vulnerable. Continuing her presentation with the question "What are we doing to prevent these frailties?", she stated that the conventional approach in planning in fact increases such vulnerabilities. Eraydın pointed out that, in order to build a new system, we need to incorporate new factors into our perspective, e.g. improvement, adaptation, the co-evolution of socioeconomic and ecological systems, and flexibility; emphasizing the concept of resilience as a new approach. Describing resilience as "not only coping with or adapting to change in the ecological sense but also making use of the change", Eraydın expressed that the resilience approach could mean a fresh breath, i.e. a new method to treat the perception of the frailty in the cities caused by real estate market volatilities.
In the first discussion session, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Osman Balaban, from METU Department of City and Regional Planning, emphasized that environment is an international policy and environmental issues are increasingly assuming a global quality. He stated that "Green economy", "precautionary principle" and "resilience" issues are at the core of a new model and paradigm in the environmentalist context. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nuri Yavan of Ankara University, arguing that no real achievement was made in terms of environmental sustainability under Millennium Development Goals, pointed out that economic issues have resurfaced together with the sustainable development approach. Yavan advocated generating solutions that combine economic rationalty with social rationality.
Referring to the significance of problems such as "ideology", "partnership of stakeholders" and "ethics and justice" in the failure to materialize sustainable development, Environmental and Political Scientist Nuran Talu stated that the concept of green economy is a synonym for green capitalism, proposing the use of "low carbon economy" concept instead.
In the second session titled "Sustainability Assessment" Prof. Thomas Fischer of Liverpool University stressed the importance of actors constituting the governance mechanisms, the dialogue among actors and the content of sustainability for sustainability assessment. Fischer described sustainability assessment as the integration of economic, social and environmental dimensions.
Jiri Dusk, a representive of the Czech "Integra Consultancy Firm” that provides strategic environmental assessment consultancy to many countries, noted that at the end of the day, pre-decision assistance practices prove to accrue benefits that well exceed their costs. The speaker stressed that the most important success criteria are identifying the scope of the assessment and delivering the processes in a transparent fashion.
Following the presentations, in the second discussion session Mr. Halil Agah pointed out that each industry has its own strategies for sustainable development but not all strategies can be integrated with each other. Meanwhile, Ms. Gönül Ertürer said that the hardest component in sustainability assessment is ensuring people’s participation. Sibel Güven from TEPAV, finally, stressed that the priorities are changing in sustainable development and that sustainability should be viewed from a conceptual perspective.
EIA Directive amended 18 times
In the final session titled "Turkey's Issues and New Era Priorities" Mr. Baran Bozoğlu from TMMOB Chamber of Environmental Engineers, started his presentation by noting that the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive has been amended 18 times since the 1990s, whereas its compliance level with the EU legislation remains at 3%. With reference to the problems regarding EIA practices in Turkey, Bozoğlu stressed that the real estate industry is also protected by the EIA Directive with the recent changes, and argued that the environment is being ravaged for the sake of profit. He emphasized that sustainable development should be a rights-based policy rather than a profits-based one.
Following the presentations and round table discussions Prof. Dr. İlhan Tekeli of METU has offered a overview of the debates. Tekeli stated that we face considerable ambiguity and deadlock regarding the concept of sustainable development, for which he cited two fundamental reasons. Tekeli argued that nation-state structures still resting on top of cosmopolitan democracy, and the ineptitude at criticising the capitalism are the factors that create this deadlock. The balance among human, environmental and economic aspects in sustainable development is treated as "the problem of relative weight of rigid and stagnant disciplines," Tekeli argued.
Regional Development and Governance Symposia
The symposium was one of the discussion platforms initiated to take the pulse of regional development and governance agenda in 2006. The series hosted around 40 globally renowned foreign scholars to date, whereby international experiments were discussed along with those in the Turkish context. The events helped elaborate issues in depth and establish networks among stakeholders with the contributions of guest speakers. Many dimensions of the theme, including rural development, industry policy, social politics and urban development have been addressed over the course of a decade. Books published compiling the transcripts of the presentations and debates are another contribution of the symposia sure to become valuable resources for academics and practitioners working in the field.
