Taking root: state agency efforts toward sustainable development in Minnesota

In 1996, the Minnesota Legislature directed all agencies, departments and boards to report on how their respective missions and programs “reflect and implement the state sustainable development principles” or how they could be changed to do so. This report summarizes the results, compiled and analyzed by Minnesota Planning staff for the Environmental Quality Board.

Sustainable development is defined as development that simultaneously benefits people, business and the environment. It meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Taking Root finds that virtually all state agencies are engaged in work that contributes to sustaining Minnesota’s environment, economy and communities, but that these issues are still often treated as separate rather than interconnected.

What appears to be missing among state agencies is:

A common understanding of what sustainable development means and how it might change the way agencies and programs function

An awareness of the need to consider the net environmental, economic and community impacts of each decision

A coherent, well-defined policy framework to guide state agencies in contributing their respective strengths to Minnesota’s overall sustainable development goals

Criteria for evaluating the degree to which a given policy or program promotes sustainable development