Achieving Sustainable Industrial Development Through a System of Strategic Planning and Implementation: The Singapore Model

Sustainable Development as defined by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED or more widely known as the Brundtland Commission) is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. This calls for a fine balance of meeting the human’s economic and social needs (primarily through economic development and growth) while protecting the environment and its natural resources. Maintaining this fine balance between development and environment would safeguard the future generations to achieve the quality of life that is at least as good as the present generation.

To meet the economic and social needs of humans, industrialization has been a key strategy adopted by many industrializing countries to achieve economic development and growth through the creation of industries, manufacturing output, job creation and government revenue. However, the industrialization process can often result in negative impact on the environment if stringent environmental regulations and control mechanisms are not properly implemented and enforced.

Under the United Nations Agenda 21, three dimensions of sustainable development have been identified and these are the economic dimension, the social dimension, and the environmental dimension. In the context of sustainable industrial development, the United Nations for Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) defines that such development should accomplish three things: firstly, it encourages a competitive economy, with industry producing for exports as well as the domestic market (economic dimension); secondly, it creates productive employment, with industry bringing long-term employment and increased prosperity (social dimension); and thirdly, it protects the environment, with industry efficiently utilising non-renewable resources, conserving renewable resources and remaining within functional limits of the ecosystem (environmental dimension).