The Gap between Sustainable Development Strategies & Wellbeing Promotion Strategies

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The Gap between Sustainable Development Strategies & Wellbeing Promotion Strategies Written by Lucy Brialey and published by Studio Apostoli

Can we bridge the gap between sustainable development strategies and wellbeing promotion strategies?

By exploring the concept of the ‘duality of structure’ as a starting point we can better understand the links between sustainable development and wellbeing and discover the properties which either enable or constrain sustainable wellbeing initiatives. In the past decades the relationship between wellbeing promotion has not been sufficiently integrated with strategies for sustainable development, leading to wellbeing initiatives having a short-term view and at times leading to unintended consequences, social injustice on communities and detriments to the environment.

One well known example could be the clearing of tropical rain forests for production of palm oil for health and personal grooming products. Here, the intent has often been to solve health problems and promote wellbeing products, whilst causing the exhaustion of soils, erosion of land, loss of biodiversity, as well as over worked and undervalued communities. Many health and environmental problems are rooted in the unintended and often negative side effects stemming from production and consumption processes driven by market forces and cost reductions.

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I don't like to dwell on the negative, use fear tactics or blame to achieve progress and results, but understanding the reality and ensuring risk analysis is essential now. There is light shining through in the better understanding that a greater emphasis on the interaction between health and sustainability will allow both for preventing unintended side effects and for identifying positive gains from new or ongoing initiatives. From a wellbeing perspective, it is important to recognise the positive synergy which could be achieved by the fundamental integration of sustainability and health as a long-term global concept.

The United Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) are the world’s most comprehensive and inclusive framework for global wellbeing and sustainability. The 17 UN SDGs are examined in relation to wellbeing in the 2020 World Happiness Report where they compare Sustainable development with subjective wellbeing. In the report they find that SDGs 12 (Responsible consumption and production) and 13 (Climate action) are significantly negatively correlated with human well-being, thus showing us that these are the first and foremost areas for review that we should be focusing on when making and planning sustainable business decisions.

Head Office : Via Cà Nova Zampieri 4/e, 37057 San Giovanni Lupatoto, Verona - ITALIA - tel: +39 045 8779190

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In the wellbeing sector we can more consciously contribute to and drive human health and wellbeing, not only by the services we deliver, but to also by assessing our impact of trading. Through thoughtful analysis of all business policies and procurement, and by implementing a process whereby using the filter of SDG 12 and 13 are applied the global and long-term concept of human health can be more positively influenced and we as an industry sector are part of the conscious movement to make this happen.

For further reading on these subjects please use the following links:   

World Happiness Report SDG 12 SDG 13

Lucy Brialey

Co-Founder and Director of the Sustainable Spa Association CIC Lucy’s 23 years of experience in the industry have allowed her to learn about Spa culture, products and services internationally. It fully understands the requirements of the day-to-day management of a Spa, focusing personally on the impact of consumers and businesses on the environment. Lucy has a strong interest in the environmental impact of the sector by studying sustainability in order to increase her knowledge by making improvements.

Head Office : Via Cà Nova Zampieri 4/e, 37057 San Giovanni Lupatoto, Verona - ITALIA - tel: +39 045 8779190