Sustainable development is not just about the environment but encompasses every aspect of our daily lives. And in an Island as small as Bermuda, it is crucial that we adopt its philosophy in an age of soaring oil prices, globalisation and global warming.

After two years of consultation with the people of Bermuda, Government recently released the Sustainable Development Implementation Plan document which sets out the future of the Island in each area of governance. Over the next five years, Government will phase in various measures aimed at improving the quality of life of everyone on the Island, but its success is down to you.

Charles Brown, Director of the Sustainable Development Unit, explains why.

Helping your country to a better future can be as simple as taking a refillable coffee cup to the cafe or refusing to take plastic cutlery to picnics.

"Sustainable development is essentially a way of life and is all about connections, connecting various issues in life whether it is education, healthcare, population size, preserving a strong economy, good governance or the need to conserve our natural environment," says Charles Brown. "The plan is the result of extensive public consultation. It is not an initiative which is the result of five or six people sitting in a project room over 18 months, it's the result of extensive consultation with stakeholders both inside and outside Government, NGOs, private citizens and the private sector, both commercial and non-profit organisations."

The final plan was also shaped by the Sustainable Development Roundtable. Mr. Brown says: "I've inherited what I think is a solid plan for Bermuda and the responsibility for delivering it inside and outside of Government.

"The aim is to have all Government policies having an element of sustainable development in them."Sustainable development is many things and means different things to different people, and to different countries depending on their environmental, economic and social status. This shapes the development of their sustainable development policies," says Mr. Brown.

As a result of the consultation process, Bermuda has identified five main areas: sustaining our communities; living within our limits; protecting and enhancing the environment and natural resources; maintaining a strong and inclusive economy; and transforming governance of the public sector.

"The areas Bermuda chose, it's about the need for integrated thinking around these five areas," says Mr. Brown. "Sustainable development is about the interdependency of environmental, economic and social policy decision making. For example, if you look at the frustrations many residents have in Bermuda of securing housing they can afford, without this basic shelter they are not likely to be concerned about other issues such as the environment and ensuring there is habitat for our endemic species. This is just as important but not on their priority list."

He says: "When you look at our economy it is very healthy and thriving, but if we are unable to consistently provide the labour to fulfill the jobs it is creating, this will affect our ability to sustain ourselves."

According to statistics, Bermudians held 77 percent of jobs on the Island in 1991 but 69 percent in 2006. Mr. Brown says: "A significant portion of Bermuda's population is driven by the creation of jobs and the need to fulfill those jobs with imported labour. If we are going to sustain this country and quality of life we need to be mindful of what that could mean.

"I think we need to have a national conversation about that subject, in terms of sustaining Bermuda's future."

Commenting on Government's introduction of six-year term limits for foreign workers, Mr. Browns says: "The six year limit is addressing another issue but that is related to sustainable development. It is designed to limit the number of long term residents, because if this goes unchecked we will have people saying 'I've been here long enough, I want a permanent place'. That's not sustainable."

In terms of the growing economy, the number of jobs in 2006 was 39,686, compared to 34,621 in 1991.

"In 22 square miles, that's a lot of jobs," says Mr. Brown. "The whole infrastructure is asked to do more. We can't close our eyes and behave as if there's no impact on this country."

He says this is why the education reform process in the wake of the critical Hopkins Report is so critical. Mr. Brown says it is important to sustainable development in terms of creating a better-equipped and educated workforce to fulfill jobs in the economy rather than relying on overseas labour - and thus increasing population size and pressures on Bermuda's infrastructure.

Mr. Brown says Government is already implementing several sustainable development initiatives - some of which were outlined in the Throne Speech."My job is to facilitate the implementation of the Plan," he says. "There are over 150 initiatives, some of which are being done now, some which are planned to start during this fiscal year, and some will be done in the future."

He admits the Sustainable Development Implementation Plan will shape future national legislation.

"The Plan could influence legislation, but changing legislation is not always accompanied by changing behaviour," he says.

As well as steering sustainable development policies to fruition through Government, Mr. Brown's job is also to make sure "the community understands what sustainable development is all about."

As a Management Services Officer, Mr. Brown has extensive Civil Service experience. He has been employed by the Bermuda Government since 1995 and within the Department of Management Services was responsible for developing and implementing cross-ministerial policy and programme initiatives - the delivery of Government services.

As Director of the Sustainable Development Unit, Mr. Brown says he is building on "the great efforts of those before me, particularly the SD project team and Ms Erica Smith, the first SD Director".

Describing his new role, he says: "My responsibility is to work with various Government departments and to check on the status of the implementation of sustainable development, to make sure we are delivering on the policies. I have to report back to Cabinet, and then whatever is not taking place can be nudged along.

"I am also responsible in making sure that across the Civil Service there is an understanding and awareness of sustainable development, and that we are delivering it through the Government departments and also to the wider community. The country needs to understand what sustainable development is.

"In order to measure results, there is even a Sustainable Development Impact Assessment tool."This will be used to evaluate policies with regards to Government's commitment to sustainable development," says Mr. Brown.

Taking off his glasses, he says: "I would like for the country and Government to see their choices and decisions through the lens of sustainable development.

"It is a huge undertaking. In some ways it represents Government's forward plan.

"In the long term we are hoping that every citizen will know what is expected of them, and in an ideal world that would mean this unit going away. It is all about changing behaviour and consumption patterns to assist in the protection of resouces."

Mr. Brown says that simple changes can be made to ease the amount of consumer waste. He says the recent initiative in grocery stores to provide renewable bags rather than doling out brown paper ones could be extended to takeaway packaging, such as cutting down on the plastic cups, knives and forks people take to picnics. Mr. Brown is currently meeting grocers to encourage the introduction of biodegradable items such as knives and forks, to the Island.

With the Island's population at 62,059 in 2000 and an estimated 63,797 in 2006, he says this all adds to the level of trash being transported to the Tynes Bay incinerator.

"How to dispose of that garbage will affect all our waste streams, so individually we each have a responsibility," he says."It is up to each of us to say 'I'm going to take a reusable coffee cup to the cafe every day instead of using their paper ones'.

"If we each do a little we can all do a lot. We can all change our lightbulbs to CFLs, and use timers in our homes, turning off power sources."

The creation of a Department of Energy was one of the Plan's objectives now being implemented.

And Mr. Brown says: "I believe Government will encourage more renewables (solar panels, micro-wind turbines). I'm certain in the near future we will see Government demonstrate the value of reducing our carbon footprint in every regard, both by leading by example and in encouraging residents to reduce consumption patterns. We are all paying for the price of oil per barrel."Another way to reduce the amount of fuel we consume is by encouraging people to change the way they travel. This could be jumping on a pedal cycle instead of your motorcycle, taking part in car pooling, or commuting to work on public transport."Another objective of the Sustainable Development Implementation Plan is to 'encourage business decentralisation'. Mr. Brown says: "Decentralisation is concerned with moving traffic away from Hamilton to other parts of the country.

"Government has attempted to develop the Southside baseland for commercial enterprise. That has had some success but we have to be mindful of the potential impact of decentralisation on current open space. We need to balance the development of the economy against the development of open space. Brownfield - certainly, greenfield - certainly not."

Mr. Brown grew up in Spanish Point, the son of Barbara and the late Walton Brown Snr. His father was a cousin of the Premier and his brother Walton has been appointed a Government Senator. Mr. Brown has two sisters and currently lives in Southampton with his wife Lisa.

He was educated at Berkeley Institute and studied accounting at Bermuda College before pursuing a degree in Business Administration at Acadia University, Canada, and a Masters in Management from Webster. The 46-year-old lists his interests as watching cricket, nature, gardening, cooking, reading and travelling.

With the Premier and Minister of Tourism and Transport being related, how can sustainable development influence Bermuda's tourism strategy?

Mr. Brown says: "If Government says it is committed to sustainable development, I would expect we would demonstrate that commitment. There are several ways a hotel developer can also demonstrate that commitment, such as through education and training, limiting energy use, treatment of waste and protection of the environment."

Raising the subject of the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green construction certification, he adds: "I would certainly expect that to be a consideration as these developments are constructed."

Mr. Brown says sustainable development also influenced the decision to berth the future Panamax cruise ships at Dockyard."Government has said 'no' to those in Hamilton Harbour because it would have meant damaging the marine environment, such as through dredging. Public consultation also suggested that wasn't appropriate."He says that as the Panamax ships can store and treat their own sewage, supply their own water and manage trash, they "represent a significant reduction on the demands on the Island's infrastructure".

Mr. Brown also gives the creation of new sidewalks as an example of the interdependency between the different areas of sustainable development.

"Sidewalks encourage people to exercise, which reduces obesity, which reduces healthcare costs,' he says.

And even Government itself will not escape the sustainable development revolution. The Plan states: "The success of this strategy and implementation plan, and ultimately the future viability of Bermuda lie in an effective and accountable Government and Civil Service."

It says exchange of information between Ministries should be improved: "Ministries are often unaware of parallel initiatives taking place elsewhere in Government. We need to gather better information, desseminate it more widely, overcome turf wars, streamline the Civil Service and tie departments together."

While Mr. Brown insists there are no plans for job losses, he says: "Any organisation should look at its efficiency and effectiveness, and value for money. Sometimes resources are redistributed, but there's no plan to thin the number of people. "To be delivered effectively, sustainable development will require that there's joined-up government. We will have to ensure our decision making is properly integrated."

He gives the provision of social services as an example."During the preparation of this Plan it was discovered that the delivery of social services was not as properly integrated as it could and should be. We had evidence of duplication in evidence gathering," he says.

"We need to improve what we can to correlate the information."Commenting on "parallel initiatives", he says: "The awareness of those respective initiatives between those ministries wasn't as clear as it should have been."When there's a cross-ministry initiative, let's ensure all ministers are aware of their roles and accountability."

And in the area of accountability, a stated objective of the Sustainable Development Implementation Plan is to 'Enact Public Access to Information'.

Asked when Government is to introduce PATI legislation, Mr. Brown says: "It's in the Plan. Government is committed to enacting PATI."

In implementing a National Sustainable Development Strategy, Bermuda is joining dozens of countries around the world committed to ensuring a better future for their citizens.

Although the US has not yet formulated an 'NSDS', Bermuda joins Europe, Russia, Australia, Indonesia, Mexico, Brazil, and several African nations in attempting to balance its resources. Only four other Caribbean islands have produced a strategy, Barbados, Cuba, Guadeloupe and Martinique. Bermuda now has an opportunity to become a role model for other islands around the world.

Mr. Brown says: "How the quality of life in Bermuda will evolve, in a large part is down to how we see our choices and decisions, and if we see them through the lens of sustainable development then I think we have a future for Bermuda that could be the envy of many similar jurisdictions.

"However, if we do not deliver sustainable development, then we could jeopardise the quality of life for future generations."