Sustainable Development Plan in 2008,

Sustainable Development Plan

In 2008, Canada passed the Federal Sustainable Development Act. This act includes a number of tactics and strategies to help one of the world's large industrialized nations develop in a sustainable manner. Many of these are for federal agencies, and each agency has its own set of sustainable development strategies. A sustainable development advisory panel has also been established to help monitor the progress of the federal agencies with respect to sustainable development.

Canada is a signatory to many international agreements on sustainable development, including the Beijing Declaration on the advancement of women, the Kyoto Protocol and commitment to the Millennium Development Goals. Canada views sustainable development as an ongoing process, with each individual goal as having its down timeline. The Millennium Development Goals, for example, have a timeframe for completion of 2015. The Kyoto Commitment Canada signed on for -- a much more stringent commitment than most countries -- was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 6% lower than 1990 levels by 2012.

Canada's sustainable development plan does not address many areas that other sustainable development plans address. For example, there is little with regards to water, Canada being a water-rich nation. Employment is considered a separate issue from sustainability. There is no funding from the IMF, World Bank or other agencies, since Canada can afford its own programs. There are programs to aid in employment and economic development, but for the most part they are not part of the sustainable development plans. The lack of tie-in between the "sustainable" and the "development" is the main weakness in Canada's sustainable development plans.

In 2002, Ethiopia launched its down sustainable development program, which addressed several crucial issues (Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, 2002) . The plan is centered on the primary goal of poverty reduction. With respect to land use, the plan focused on the production of cash crops, as a means to generate income, but the government feels that this can be balanced with a move towards food self-sufficiency as well. They feel that they can do this with better overall agricultural output through better water management, for example a reduction in the size of irrigation projects to reduce waste.

The plan is also focused on shifting Ethiopia's economy from one in which 85% of the populace is engaged in agriculture to one in which people earn their money through trades and industry. The plan holds this will lift people out of poverty and build the economy from the lowest levels up.

The timeframe for the first stages of this development plan has come, so the second stages are underway. Sustainable development in Ethiopia is a long-term objective. With respect to women, the plan includes provisions on improving women's access to health care. The Women's Development Initiatives project (WDIP) represents a commitment to women's equality by improving female education and providing rural women with more economic opportunities.