After the past half of a century of rapid growth-oriented development, Korea has recently adopted a new paradigm for national development by officially launching a national strategy for sustainable development.

The strategy, approved by the central government at an Oct. 31 Cabinet meeting, provides a national policy direction for sustainable development from 2006 to 2010 as well as concrete action plans with a budget and timetable to simultaneously advance economic, social and environmental goals in ways that provide a good quality of life for everyone, including future generations. The strategy is the result of long-term efforts made by 22 government departments and the Presidential Commission on Sustainable Development established in 2000.

Although sustainable development has been universally recognized as a major challenge since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the concept of sustainable development had not been translated into concrete actions at the government level in Korea. The government’s previous plans, such as National Agenda 21, regularly submitted to the United Nations since 1996, lacked the balanced integration of department policies.

For the first time in 20 years, the Korean government has succeeded in mainstreaming sustainable development across government and the wider public sector. The announced strategy, which includes implementation of international agreements made at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, demonstrates Korea’s commitment to sustainable development.

The strategy includes five themes under which 48 priority implementation tasks were formulated to produce multiple benefits across the three pillars of sustainable development _ social, economic and environmental. It calls for both an environmentally friendly system of production and consumption and a resource recycling economic society. Under the theme of social integration and national health promotion, it focuses on extending a social safety net to the vulnerable and protecting national health from health-threatening environmental factors. The strategy’s environmental focus is on reinforcing the sustainable management of natural resources and the ecologically sound and integrated national land management. In the area of international cooperation, it calls for more proactive measures regarding climate change agreements and international obligations such as a reduction of ozone-depleting substances and an increase in official development assistance. The strategy sets out the establishment of a monitoring and evaluation system within the central government administration process.

Each government department participated in formulating the strategy and is responsible for delivering against a number of specific sustainable development targets every year. Twenty-two leading and collaborating departments will be held accountable for their performance in implementing the strategy through institutionalized evaluation and feedback mechanism. In parallel to the departmental monitoring, 77 national sustainable development indicators devised with the strategy will be used to monitor and evaluate the overall progress of sustainable development in the country.

Non-governmental actors _ including civil society, business and academia _ played a crucial role in formulating the strategy, and they are engaged in monitoring and continuously improving the strategy. Business and civil society are also important actors in realizing sustainable development, especially in the area of production and consumption patterns.

The commission, composed of governmental and non-governmental representatives, constitutes a democratic governance institution for sustainable development in Korea. The commission ensures effective monitoring, evaluation and improvement of the strategy. It is currently undertaking significant efforts to further establish an institutional basis for sustainable development, especially through the enactment of a basic law on sustainable development at the national level as well as a basic ordinance on local sustainable development at the local level.

To respond to the multi-faceted nature of sustainable development in today’s increasingly globalized world, Korea pursues the global vision for sustainable development through reinforced international cooperation. Korea has embarked on a shared learning and review process to share its knowledge and experiences with the international community. As part of the process, a shared learning and review workshop co-organized with the United Nations will take place March 12–16 in 2007 in Seoul with the participation of partner countries from the Asia-Pacific region and relevant international organizations. By taking this initiative, Korea seeks to lead by example and promote genuine regional and international partnership for sustainable development.

The official launch of the strategy laid a firm foundation for Korea’s sustained national competitiveness through the simultaneous pursuit of economic prosperity, social justice and environmental well-being. The strategy presents a 21^st century blue print for Korea’s move towards becoming a new dragon of Asia as an advanced welfare state.

[The writer is the chairwoman of the Presidential Commission on Sustainable Development. ]