The impact of lifestyles on the environment
The success of policies for addressing environmental challenges ultimately depends on the part played by people in these policies. In order to orientate environmental policies more towards the citizen, it is essential to improve understanding of the choices made by people in their lifestyles and in participatory processes. With this in mind, the European Commission (DG XII) organised a workshop on "Lifestyles, participation and environment" in March 1998, on which a report has recently been published. The workshop provided the opportunity to present and discuss the results of three projects supported by the Environment and Climate research programme: Consumers' Lifestyles and Pollutant Emissions (COLIPOLE); Urban Lifestyles, Sustainability and Integrated Environmental Assessment (ULYSSES); and Environmental Policy, Social Exclusion and Climate Change (EPSECC). Among the issues addressed during the workshop were consumption aspects, participation and equity aspects, and the use of models in research for policy support. A number of conclusions were drawn from the workshop, including: - Integrating policy-making strategies presents a tough challenge, requiring close collaboration between all those involved; - Tools are needed for the design of integrated policies, and to better understand the factors which govern the success or failure of proposals at the political decision stage, including support or rejection by citizens; - Additional research efforts are needed to address issues such as: dynamics of lifestyles and consumption patterns; participation and equity issues in environmental policy-making; and the development of tools useful in citizen-oriented policy-making for sustainable development; - The creation of an interdisciplinary network was also suggested, which would bring together researchers, policy-makers and business people in order to identify innovative and practical concepts to strengthen the role of citizens in achieving sustainable development.