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Source: OECD International Conference, Vancouver Canada, 24-27 March 1996
Also detailed in: National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE). 1996. Eight Principles for Sustainable Transportation. Ecodecision 21 (Summer 1996): 12-13.
Note:
The following set of principles was developed by Canada's National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy through a consultative process with a number of Canadian transportation stakeholders. They were developed at the request of Canada's Minister of the Environment in order to serve as a starting point for a discussion about principles at the Conference. These principles have been discussed by the National Round Table, though they have not been formally endorsed. They are designed to encourage thought and discussion about some of the key challenges facing the transportation sector.
Our aim is to develop transportation systems that maintain or improve human and ecosystem well-being together - not one at the expense of the other. Due to varying environmental, social and economic conditions between and within countries, there is no single best way to achieve sustainable transportation systems. A set of guiding principles can be described, however, upon which transition strategies should be built.
We recognize the fundamental importance of,
Access to people, places, goods and services is important to the social and economic well being of communities. Transportation is a key means, but not the only means, through which access can be achieved.
Principle #1: Access
People are entitled to reasonable access to other people, places, goods and services.
Transportation systems are a critical element of a strong economy, but can also contribute directly to building community and enhancing quality of life.
Principle #2: Equity
Nation states and the transportation community must strive to ensure social, interregional and inter-generational equity, meeting the basic transportation-related needs of all people including women, the poor, the rural, and the disabled.
Principle #3: Health and Safety
Transportation systems should be designed and operated in a way that protects the health (physical, mental and social well-being) and safety of all people, and enhances the quality of life in communities.
Principle #4: Individual Responsibility
All individuals have a responsibility to act as stewards of the natural environment, undertaking to make sustainable choices with regard to personal movement and consumption.
Principle #5: Integrated Planning
Transportation decision makers have a responsibility to pursue more integrated approaches to planning.
Human activities can overload the environment's finite capacity to absorb waste, physically modify or destroy habitats, and use resources more rapidly than they can be regenerated or replaced. Efforts must be made to develop transportation systems that minimize physical and biological stress, staying within the assimilative and regenerative capacities of ecosystems, and respecting the habitat requirements of other species.
Principle #6: Pollution Prevention
Transportation needs must be met without generating emissions that threaten public health, global climate, biological diversity or the integrity of essential ecological processes.
Principle #7: Land and Resource Use
Transportation systems must make efficient use of land and other natural resources while ensuring the preservation of vital habitats and other requirements for maintaining biodiversity
Sustainable transportation systems must be cost effective. If adjustment costs are incurred in the transition to more sustainable transportation systems they should be equitably shared, just as current costs should be more equitably shared.
Principle #8: Fuller Cost Accounting
Transportation decision makers must move as expeditiously as possible toward fuller cost accounting, reflecting the true social, economic and environmental costs, in order to ensure users pay an equitable share of costs.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
ACCESS:
PEOPLE AND COMMUNITIES:
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY:
ECONOMIC VIABILITY:
