The ESD (Ecologically Sustainable Development) process was one of the most extensive and far-reaching policy experiments ever undertaken in Australia, instituted by the Australian Government in 1990. The process was a comprehensive attempt to come to grips with the reconciliation of economic and environmental values in the development process, and to formalise the notion of ESD in practical policy terms.
This publication, a collection of nine papers presented at a workshop, are aimed at evaluating the ESD process five years on. How did it work? What were its strengths and limitations? Has it had any lasting impact? Does it provide a model for other policy processes in the environmental or other spheres?