Introduction

The relevance of these three ‘characters’ holding hands is that it shows how one supports the other. This representation helps with the definition of ‘sustainability’ because it points to their inter-dependence.

For example, a prosperous economy is of little use to a local community if its people cannot get jobs, because they do not have training to build up the right kind of skills. Similarly, an economy will not thrive for long if it does so at the expense of people’s health or without safeguarding the environment, and finally businesses will not move to places where the quality of life is so impoverished that the environment will sustain neither homes nor jobs, or ultimately communities.

The staging of the XVII Commonwealth Games in Manchester will involve two weeks of sporting excellence - but the Games Legacy itself is about more than this, it is about decontaminating and putting back to use derelict urban land; it is about creating thousands of new long-term jobs; and it is about providing a legacy of improved health for generations of young people who will benefit from new sporting facilities.

Looking to the longer term, the British Government has set a challenging agenda for the UK in the 21st Century. Two components of this are the requirement to minimise and manage waste creation and to reduce carbon emissions, in order to limit the impact of global warming. M2002, as part of the delivery of the XVII Commonwealth Games, will be seeking to promote initiatives, with its partners, that support the delivery of the national targets for carbon emissions through energy and resource management and for the diversion of waste from landfill, by recycling and composting programmes.

In short, the sustainability of communities, economies and environments are inseparable. All must thrive together, or not at all. So when we speak of the legacy that we would like to leave our children, it will only be a legacy worth having if it is sustainable.