Warning on over use of resources

IRELAND was already living beyond its means even before the economic boom had begun, a conference on sustainable development has been told.

The Irish population currently consumes 25 per cent more in resources than the area of the country was capable of producing. Ms Geraldine Tallon of the Department of the Environment, said.

"We have tended to think that because of our history of low resource use, we are not affected by the need to conserve resources. But all the evidence now is that this is no longer the case."

Swedish experts addressing the conference in Dublin pointed out that the developed world would have to cut energy consumption to 10 per cent of current levels in order to preserve the environment for the next generation.

"Within a generation, with the increase in world population, we will be using 10 times the resources we have," Mr Rolf Lindell of the Swedish National Committee for Agenda 21 said.

"Africa and Asia will only be able to have a similar lifestyle to ours if we drastically curtail our own energy use, he said.

Sponsored by the Swedish embassy, the conference focused on local authority involvement in Agenda 21, the development blue print for the next century produced at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

Some 35 Swedish towns have become "ecomunicipalities", dedicated to conserving resources, increasing recycling, protecting the diversity of nature and promoting an effective and just turnover of resources.

While Sweden is an acknowledged world leader in local environmental initiatives, Ireland's commitment so far is mostly aspirational. Irish local authorities have been told to produce a local Agenda 21 for their areas by next year, but few have done so.

One authority which has developed a draft plan is Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown. According to Mr Kevin O'Sullivan, county manager, the main challenge for Irish planners is to raise housing densities: "Higher population densities are essential for sustainable development, particularly along transport corridors. We have to preserve our green spaces but convert building land to high density use. There will be more in fill development, more apartments, and more mixed use development."