Methods and Approaches for Sustainable Development in Alaska

Abstract

Over the past ten years, sustainable development has been popularized by programs such as the President’s Council on Sustainable Development, the United Nation’s Agenda 21, and other sustainable development programs and initiatives in many countries, U.S. states and regions, and hundreds of American communities. These programs and initiatives have interpreted sustainability differently and tried different approaches and methods with varying success. We reviewed a selection of these programs to learn what methods and approaches have proven useful. In this report we summarize what we learned from our review and offer suggestions about how sustainable development could emerge in Alaska. In Part II of this report, we define what we mean by sustainable development and describe the major issues debated in sustainable development programs. In Part III, we identify several sustainable development approaches that may be applicable in Alaska.