Sustainable Tourism Law

SUSTAINABILITY: THE PATH FROM STOCKHOLM TO THE EUROPEAN CHARTER 635 I.2.6. IV Conference of Sustainable Cities & Towns The Fourth European Conference on Sustainable Cities & Towns took place, for the second time, in Aalborg on 9-11 June 2004. “Inspiring futures” is the title of the fourth edition of the European conference, which took place for the second time in Aalborg, with more than 100 countries taking part, and this time 110 cities joined the effort. Ten agreements were achieved concerning forms of government. Local management towards sustainability, common natural resources, responsible consumption and ways of life, planning and urban architecture, better mobility and traffic reduction, dynamic and sustainable local action, equality and social justice. Finally, going from a local to a global scope, local governments must be supported in order to identify the measures to be taken to implement the sustainable urban principles recognized in the Aalborg Charter. Some measures, initially considered impossible to achieve, now possess an inalienable character, being part of the new environmental urban way of thinking. I.2.7. The European Union Sustainable Development Strategy (EU SDS) As referred before, sustainable development is an overarching objective contained in the Treaty of Lisbon. The strategy for sustainable development (SDS) is a long-term vision for sustainability “and an overarching policy framework providing guidance for all EU policies and strategies and including a global dimension, with a time frame of up to 2050”. It’s based on the famous trilogy “economic growth”, “social cohesion” 19 and “environmental protection” that takes into account the interaction and inseparable unity of these three factors 20 . The leadership of Europe in the fight against climate change and an economy that’s excessively reliant on carbon has been established. Expressions like green growth and carbon accounting have become part of the European glossary. Several objectives are established: 19 The renovated Social Agenda highlights the importance of the sustainable development and well-being objectives besides the GDP and translates an integrated and global approach covering different COM policies (2008) 412 from 2.7.2008. The orientations regarding employment and the social responsibility of the companies are other domains where the paradigm of sustainability will act. 20 The Portuguese initiative Legislar Melhor ( Better Regulation) , for example, contributes towards sustainable development. Besides looking for a better cost-efficiency ratio of the decisions by simplifying the European Legislation, as well as the reduction of the administrative positions, it includes an evaluation system of the potential impacts of the new legislation and economic, social and environmental policies.