Government's Sustainable Development Unit (SDU) sets out strategy

The UK Government has launched a strategy for sustainable development, Securing The Future, in conjunction with a Strategic Framework. The Sustainable Development Unit (SDU) is situated within the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Sustainable development is, however, a broad concept that includes an array of different issues that require involvement across government and cannot be implemented by a single department alone. By definition, sustainable development requires joined up thinking across government.

The SDU will work to embed, monitor and report on sustainable development across Whitehall and the UK. Work will include the development of a UK strategy to set out how government facilitate the delivery of sustainable development. THE SDU also sponsors the Sustainable Development Commission, an advisory Non-Departmental Public Body, which was set up to report to the Prime Minister, the First Ministers in Scotland and Wales and the First Minister and Deputy First Minister in Northern Ireland.

The SDU Strategy takes account of developments since the 1999 Strategy, both domestically and internationally; the changed structure of government in the UK with devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; greater emphasis on delivery at regional level and the new relationship between government and local authorities.

It takes account of new policies since 1999, and it highlights the renewed international push for sustainable development from the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002. The lead Department, Defra, chairs a Programme Board to oversee delivery of the Strategy, but all UK Departments share responsibility for making sustainable development a reality.