From September 2010 – April 2012, the Greater Peterborough Area (GPA) underwent an exciting journey – the development of an Integrated Community Sustainability Plan – Sustainable Peterborough.
Since 2012 our community has changed and evolved, as have the definitions of sustainability and related local programs and initiatives. This led to a much-needed review and refresh of Sustainable Peterborough. Therefore, SP has spent a couple of years conducting an extensive organizational review, including a governance and plan review. This comprehensive work facilitated many insightful conversations and led to the decision that the new Sustainable Peterborough Plan should focus on helping the community implement and track progress towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The SDG framework has become a recognized tool for advancing sustainability in the Greater Peterborough Area. Communities in Ontario and across Canada are working on localizing the SDGs. The SDGs have become a globally recognized framework for measuring progress towards sustainability. Benefits of using the SDG framework include the use of shared language and goal setting for sustainability across many communities globally and locally and access to tools to track and visualize progress towards the goals.
Utilizing the SDG framework provides an opportunity for Sustainable Peterborough to continue the vital SDG work conducted through the 2019-2021 Community Forum led by Kawartha World Issues Centre and Peterborough GreenUP. It also provides an opportunity to use long-standing community connections and partnerships to build on the significant local interest in sustainability, raise awareness of the SDGs, and incorporate best practices from other communities.
Our newly launched Strategic Plan 2021-2031 was approved by the Sustainable Peterborough Coordinating Committee and the Peterborough & the Kawarthas Economic Development (PKED) Board of Directors in late 2021. It provides a glimpse into our history and accomplishments, our governance structure, and the vision and mission for our path forward as we focus on starting to accomplish the objectives listed therein.
The SDG framework also aligns SP’s new strategic plan and PKED’s Future Ready Regional Economic Development Strategy. The Future Ready strategy identifies five SDGs as priorities for the region to achieve the vision of seeing Peterborough & the Kawarthas become the most sustainable and innovative community and economy in Ontario. Sustainable Peterborough has been operating under the auspices of PKED since its inception in 2012, and the recent governance review has led to the mutually supported decision that this relationship continues. The partners are looking forward to further solidifying the relationship and having improved alignment through the mutual vision of advancing priority SDGs in Peterborough & the Kawarthas.