Food & Health Alliance

The UK sustainable development framework challenges governments to 'promote a clear understanding of and commitment to sustainable development so that all people can contribute to the overall goal through their individual decisions'. This strategy for Scotland has been prepared with that challenge in mind:

• The document sets out at a high level what we are trying to achieve in Scotland.
• It provides the strategic framework for a number of the government's new and emerging strategies on climate change, transport, renewable energy, energy efficiency, green jobs and biodiversity. It does not attempt to replicate the detail of those programmes.
• Each section sets out the outcomes that we are working towards: what difference new and existing programmes and investment will make.

The strategy looks at these issues from different perspectives: from a focus on the health and wellbeing of individuals in Scotland, through to the sustainability of the planet, with learning to live more sustainably a theme which runs across them all. Some key issues – travel, food, waste and the built environment – are considered in the round, to help illustrate the connections between problems and solutions.

The strategy also draws out the connections between issues, making the links between problems that are often presented as disparate and disconnected. The strategy explores, for example:

• The social and environmental consequences of purchasing choices and use of resources
• The interaction between people and the environment we live in
• The human consequences of global environmental challenges such as climate change.

The strategy contributes to the objective, 'To develop and maintain long-lasting, high-quality physical environments to support inactive people to become active', while advocating the importance of a physically active population as an integral part of a sustainable Scotland.