Achieving Environmental Sustainability

The purpose of this project is to facilitate the achievement of environmental sustainability by developing a conceptual basis for the management of strategic impediments to goal achievement and by contributing conceptually to specific issues management. Specific objectives include conceptual development of a systematic approach to strategic issues management and developing concepts that address 1) sustainability definitions, principles, and objectives for the USACE, 2) systems-oriented analytical approaches to goal achievement, 3) inventories of environmental conditions, 4) visions of an environmentally sustainable state, 5) integration of strategies into the Civil Works Strategic Plan, 6) indicators of environmental benefit from achievement of environmental sustainability, 7) integration of sustainability principles into policy guidance, 8) frameworks for project and regional planning that facilitate a "systems approach", 9) an integrated approach to research and development, and 10) improved collaboration. Significant progress has been achieved so far in products of various forms, but particularly with respect to definition of sustainability principles, environmental benefits improvement, inventory of environmental resources, and IWRM concepts and principles, Other progress is being made outside the context of this project. Project benefits are associated with any resulting improvement in USACE achievement of environmental sustainability.