So I'm trying to read my Alphabet Soup...

Sustainable Development Strategies, A Resource Book is the alphabet soup in question. I'm 60 pages into it and I'm still not sure what I've been reading about, but it's really boring.

That's not really true, in fact the book is about the challenges, setbacks and successes of international development organizations to implement Sustainable Development programs in the "Third World." What makes this reading challenging is having to navigate the mish mash of National Conservation Strategies, (NCSs) National Forestry Programs (NFPs), National Environmental Action Plans (NEAPs) and Regulatory Obligation Baseline Optimal Conservation Observation Protocols (ROBOCOPs).

Okay I made that last one up. But basically the text describes these organizations as seen from 30,000 feet up, the big picture. And it's hard to understand what these various orgs actually do aside from hold stakeholder meetings and issue reports and plans, prioritizing actions and outlining goals. It is hard for me to visualize or understand exactly what this means on the ground: What is the Pakistan 2010 program doing? How many acres of the rain forest has the TFAP preserved?

I have been able to glean the following nuggets of wisdom:

• Sustainability means different things to different classes and individuals, and Environmental Sustainability can't happen without Social / Economic stability & well being.
  
• Sustainable Development programs must combine bottom up leadership as well as top down support. If the varying individuals affected by the program have no stake in the planning process, the program will fail.
• Sustainable Development programs must be flexible, and tailored to the nation or community they are serving.
  
• Program implementers must understand the facets of the 0rganizational level they are dealing with, nation, state, community. This reminds me of some of the basics of the Systemic Thinking Labs, understanding at what level of the system you are dealing with and what its specific properties are.
• Programs must address the very short and very long term, wile including enough flexibility to change the long-term strategy as the facts on the ground change.
• The US does not pay her UN membership dues.
  

I guess I feel like I already know this stuff from other classes, but I've been hearing these lessons relating to corporate initiatives, social marketing or San Rafael community development programs, so it's good to understand that these same lessons apply to large international development programs. I'm hoping the rest of the book will provide more concrete and visceral descriptions of these programs in action, so I will reserve judgment until I've read most of it.

Sustainable Development Strategies is available from Amazon